


Expanding Her Horizons

by Athetos



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Animal Crossing - Freeform, Gen, Modern AU, everyone's friends and nothing hurts, platonic fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:27:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24297334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athetos/pseuds/Athetos
Summary: Catra buys Animal Crossing: New Horizons to play with her friends during quarantine.  She has no idea what she's getting herself into.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55





	Expanding Her Horizons

Catra only bought Animal Crossing because everyone else in her friend group had _begged_ her to pick it up. She never got the point of life-sim games, like Stardew Valley, or Harvest Moon. She wanted action and gore and complex combo attacks with flashy graphics; she was too impatient for anything that didn’t offer instant gratification. But as quarantine grew longer and longer, she realized she couldn’t play Doom Eternal for the fifth time in a row, and made the brave decision to expand her gaming horizons. 

She was already regretting it.

Her character was flying over Grayskull - Adora’s island - while the dodo pilot Wilbur rambled about weather conditions in nonsensical gibberish. What she could see of the island was painstakingly organized, with pristine bamboo groves, dedicated orchards, stone pathways, and majestic waterfalls. A plaza full of fruit and honey stalls came into view, and…

“Very funny, guys.”

Her ragtag group of friends - six people in all - were waving at her around a patch of ground with the words “bitch” written.

“You could at least _try_ to laugh.” Glimmer’s voice sounded higher than normal over the conference call. The others were trying to hold back their giggles, to no avail.

“I spent $60 on this game to play with you guys, and _this_ is how you treat me.” She rolled her eyes as she landed and stepped out of the airport onto the dock.

Adora’s avatar was waiting for her, with her trademark ponytail and red jacket. “Welcome to Grayskull! Only cute women and Bow are allowed here. Let me show you around!” She ran her character around Catra’s in circles, before jetting off inland.

“Alright, slow down, how long did it even take you to make this?” Catra was, frankly, overwhelmed. She had the game for two days, so she only had a single room in her house, two villagers that she didn’t even like, and she couldn’t even craft a shovel or slingshot. Meanwhile, Adora had what appeared to be a bustling town with multiple shops and a massive garden.

“I uh… spent two whole days terraforming.” Adora sounded embarrassed. 

“It was _three_ days, not two, Adora!” Glimmer corrected. “Bow and I thought you were dead, you didn’t answer any texts or calls!”

“I was _focused!_ ” Adora laughed. 

“You can focus while still letting us know you’re alive, you know that, right?” Bow’s voice cracked. 

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” This was from Mermista, her character strolling into view on Catra’s screen. “Grayskull is fine, but if you want to see something really cool, you have to come to Salineas.” Glimmer and Bow’s characters followed right behind her; as expected, Glimmer’s avatar was dressed head to toe in purple, while Bow’s wore heart shaped glasses and a crop top.

“Wait, how the hell do you and Glimmer have cool hair colors and styles?” Catra was more than a little jealous of their purple and blue hairdos. The hair her avatar had didn’t even come close to matching the right shade of brown, or the level of spikiness of her own mane. 

“You have to buy the hairstyles from the nookstop,” Glimmer answered. “They’re I think 2000 miles each?” 

“I have like, 300 miles. Screw that.” 

“You can get miles really easily if you do Earth Day events!” Perfuma’s voice was bright and cheerful, as ever. “Sometimes you’ll get asked to plant trees or water flowers!” Her persona jogged into view, clad in a green dress with a tulip in her hair. 

“That would be great, if I had an actual shovel.” Catra was feeling very, very left behind. 

“I can fix that!” Adora’s character happily circled Catra’s before zooming off once again. “Come this way, I’ll take you to the shop. I can buy you a DIY card for a shovel.” 

On the way to Nook’s Cranny, she spotted multiple animal villagers strolling about, some meandering slowly while others were full-on Naruto-running between their houses. There were three horses (no surprise there, Adora had been obsessed with horses in grade school), but one cat villager stood out to her.

“Whose the red superhero looking guy?”

“That’s Kid Cat!” Three of her friends chimed in at the same time. It was clear he was a popular character. 

“How do I get him?”

“Uh…” This was from Mermista. “Good luck. People are crazy for him. He’s S-tier.”

“She means that he gets traded for around a million bells,” Glimmer explained. “His amiibo card sells for insane amounts on eBay. Adora just got really lucky and found him on a mystery island.” 

There was a clatter of what sounded like dishes in a sink, and the scuffing of a chair against the floor. “Whoops, sorry, just finished eating dinner, what did I miss?” Scorpia sounded tired; Catra could easily picture the dark circles under her eyes from her voice alone. “Oh, hey Catra! You’re here!”

“Yeah, I’m here, and I just want a stupid shovel.” She was currently scoping out the items for sale in Nook’s Cranny, and was fairly unimpressed. “Why do they sell cat beds when cats are anthropomorphic and own houses?” 

“I used mine for my snapping turtle,” Adora replied. “He likes to hiss at people.” 

“Excuse me?” Catra couldn’t take much more of this.

“Yeah, I have one too!” Perfuma was delighted. “I named mine Chrysanthemum, and she watches over my rose gardens!” 

Their avatars walked outside of the shop, and Adora’s put on an exaggerated thinking face before dropping a DIY card on the ground. “Okay, Catra, that’s all yours. You just need wood to make it.” Catra scooped up the item and stashed it in her inventory.

“You should see the outdoor concert hall Adora made!” Scorpia exclaimed. “Sometimes the villagers will sing along if you play a K.K. Slider song.”

“It’s on the far end, by the beach.” Perfuma’s character smiled and clapped her hands, evidently using an emote that Catra hadn’t unlocked yet. 

The group (minus Scorpia, who was trying on clothes in the Able Sisters shop) meandered along the eastern coast, dodging sand castles and beach chairs. There were even heart outlines drawn in the sand. A goofy smile crossed Catra’s face against her will - it was clear Adora had put a lot of time and effort into her island, and even if it was just a game, it was great to see her closest friend being proud of something she had created.

“Whoa!” Glimmer’s surprised cry almost blew out Catra’s eardrums. “There’s a huge fish right there. I call it. It’s mine.” 

Adora laughed. “It’s all yours, Glim. It’s probably just another sea bass.”

“No, there’s something special about this fish, I can _tell_.” Glimmer pulled out a fishing rod and angled her character towards the ocean, where a massive shadow swam back and forth. She cast her line, and groaned with frustration as the fish completely ignored the bait.

She reeled it back in, turned a few degrees in the other direction, and cast again. 

The fish swam right beneath the bobber, ignorant and uncaring.

“Dammit!” 

“Jeez, sparkles, even I could catch this fish faster than you.” Catra smirked, opening her inventory to select her own flimsy rod.

“Don’t you even fucking think about it, I swear - “

Catra tossed her line; the fish shivered with anticipation and swam towards her bait. 

“Are you kidding me? Catra! What the hell! I called it!”

“Sucks to suck, huh, short stuff?” The fish yanked on her line on the second bite, and Catra hammered the A button to reel the monster in (she was pretty sure you only had to push the button once, but it didn’t hurt to be thorough). 

A long, eel-like serpent leapt out of the water and straight into her avatar’s arms. A text bubble popped up: “Yes! I caught an oarfish! I hope I catch more fish!” 

“ _Catra what the hell!_ You stole my oarfish! I hate you!” Glimmer was practically growling at this point.

Catra laughed. “I take it this thing is rare? Too bad, it’s mine now, princess.”

“ _Adora!_ ” Glimmer yelped. “Kick Catra off the island! She’s being mean!”

“Play nice, you two.” Adora’s avatar had ran ahead, but she retraced her steps to confront her two best friends. “Don’t you already have an oarfish in your museum anyways, Glim?”

“No…” Glimmer sounded disappointed with herself. “I needed to pay off a bridge so I sold it…” 

“Wait, there’s a museum in this game?” Catra was confused. Was that what the nerdy sweater vest owl character she saw everywhere ran? 

“You didn’t even -? _Ugh!_ You did _not_ deserve my oarfish, but it’s okay, I’m already planning my revenge.” 

“Remember what we talked about, Glimmer?” Bow’s voice was jokingly patronizing. 

“That holding grudges is morally acceptable and emotionally fulfilling?”

“What? No, the exact opposite of that!”

“Are you guys coming to the concert hall, or not?” Mermista’s eye roll was audible in her tone. “Scorpia already beat you guys here.” 

“It’s true!” Scorpia boomed. “I beat you there, _and_ I’m serving up looks. You better get over here while you can.” 

In all honesty, the concert venue Adora set up was pretty cool. There was a wooden stage with fake steps, amps, and a microphone, with a drum set in the back and two guitars on either side. Scorpia’s avatar was behind the mic, wearing a dress with the lesbian flag colors and a flower crown.

“Hell yeah, gay rights!” Catra cheered. “Now, how do we get someone to sing?” 

“They kind of just do it on their own,” Perfuma said. “We have to wait.” 

“Oh. Well, that sucks.” 

After a few more minutes of wandering around Adora’s island, chatting aimlessly with both her friends and her villagers, a notification popped up on screen to warn her that her switch’s battery was running low. 

“I’m sorry guys, I’m gonna have to jet, my switch is dying and I’m too lazy to find my charger.” She held the power button down for a few seconds, and set her console aside when the screen turned black.

“Wait. Catra.” Adora seemed concerned.

“Yes?”

“Did you… just turn your game off?”

“I mean, yeah, what else was I gonna do? It autosaves, right?”

Glimmer burst out laughing, while everyone else groaned and mumbled “Seriously, Catra?”

“Why? What’s the problem?” Catra was getting angry.

“Wildcat, it doesn’t autosave on friends’ islands,” Scorpia said. “You lost everything you collected since you got here.” 

“Which means no oarfish for you!” Glimmer cheered. “That’s karma!”

“Ughhhhh are you kidding me?” Catra dragged her nails over her face. “I still don’t have a shovel, then.”

“Aw, don’t worry about it!” Adora’s voice was soothing. “I’ll stop by your island later and give you another DIY code!” 

“But my island is so boring and empty compared to yours...” 

“So? All of our islands looked like that in the beginning,” Scorpia comforted. 

“Besides,” Mermista cut in, “You haven’t seen Seahawk’s island. He just got terraforming, and, like, he’s destroyed the place. It’s going to take days to make it not look like shit.”  
“It’s the journey, not the destination!” Perfuma added.

Catra softened. “Alright… I’m starving, so I’m going to make dinner. Text me later, okay?” 

A chorus of “will do!” and “have fun!” greeted her, before she ended the call. 

Her friends were dorks, but she loved them.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed, considering leaving a kudos or comment. Thank you!


End file.
